


Cruel Summer

by EMILYLAWLESS



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: AND SWEET, M/M, and billy knows how good he looks, and summer-y, honestly wrote this in 20 mins, how that pool scene from the s3 trailer should go down, its short, steve is a self deprecating attention starved fool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 22:25:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18214448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EMILYLAWLESS/pseuds/EMILYLAWLESS
Summary: Steve’s not entirely sure which is worse--the fact that he misses the attention or that Billy was just the first in a long line of people who stopped giving it to him.My version of THAT pool scene from the S3 trailer.





	Cruel Summer

Winter in Indiana sucked but the summers are the worst.

 

Out here there’s a different kind of heat, one that goes beyond skin-deep. Walking outside everyday is like opening a door into an oven, and even worse--one that’s sticky and wet. Billy doesn’t seem to mind. That’s not entirely surprising seeing as Billy doesn’t seem to mind anything anymore. There was a time, Steve thinks, that he did.

 

But now there’s nothing. Not even a glare shot in his direction or some barbed comment, just complete and utter silence. Steve’s not entirely sure which is worse--the fact that he misses the attention or that Billy was just the first in a long line of people who stopped giving it to him.

 

It started after high school and he really should’ve seen it coming. Nancy was off with Jonathan; the kids had all started to move on from the shared trauma; Tommy and Carol hated him; him and Billy hated each other. The only real person in Steve’s life now is Robin, and even so he gets the distinct feeling that she might hate him too. It wouldn’t be surprising--just another name to add to the list.

 

He’s being _self deprecating_. Nancy had taught him that, had told him that it wasn’t cute and that he should think more of himself. He thinks she was probably full of shit but it stays with him, her words constantly echoing around in his head when he gets trapped in a particularly vicious thought pattern. The sun is out and he’s spread out across a sun lounger at Hawkins Pool--he shouldn’t be thinking about this.

 

The truth is, plenty of people still give him attention. He gets pleased smiles and nods of appreciation whenever he makes an appearance here throughout the summer. People still remember his name, say hello to him--that has to count for something. He’s not really sure why he keeps coming here when he’s got his own pool in his backyard. Tells himself it’s because there are people here, lots of them and he just wants to be social. He tries not to think about what happened in his pool in the fall of 1983 and what came after.

 

There are a few people around him on sun loungers. Mostly older women that Steve recognises just from living in a small town. He couldn’t name any of them, couldn’t name one thing about them either. He thinks its funny how he’s lived his whole life surrounded by familiar ghosts.

 

There’s always quiet murmurings whenever Billy climbs down from his throne to walk around the pool. Scandalised female voices talking about how there was never anyone who looked like _that_ when they were young. Steve wonders if they say the same thing about him, whether he just tunes it out because he’s a self-deprecating idiot. Either way, Hawkins Pool almost always has a representative from the middle-aged Billy Hargrove fan club. Today it’s a face he can name, although he’s fairly certain that the face has never looked like that before.

 

Billy thrives on the attention, Steve can tell by the way he cocks his head and cants his entire body towards Karen Wheeler. He plays with the gum in his mouth, lowers his eyelids and gives Karen the full treatment. Steve’s never seen it like this before, like Billy’s actually interested instead of the annoyance and boredom he usually dolls out in spades. It feels wrong to keep looking, it’s impossible to look away.

 

She gets closer, lays a hand on Billy’s chest and keeps it there for a second too long. It’s the kind of shit that starts the Hawkins rumour mill churning and Steve can’t believe that she’s being so brazen about it. He wants to do something to stop it and there’s no explanation for that feeling--the one that makes him want to fake drowning just to make it stop. It won’t stop. Not now that Billy’s moving closer, dipping his head down to whisper something in her ear. Not when she audibly giggles and turns her eyes away from him like she’s suddenly shy.

 

He’s sat up in his sun lounger now, practically gawking at the scene that’s unravelling in front of him. He knows he needs to look away but it’s like a magnetic pull, something keeping his eyes fixed on the way Billy’s mouth ticks up at the corner. It’s too late because Billy isn’t staring at Karen Wheeler anymore, he’s staring straight at Steve. He’s still got his fingers playing with the piece of gum in his mouth, twirling it around his pinky, moving it around with his tongue. Karen is saying something to him but he keeps his eyes focused on Steve--hooded, mischievous. He licks his lips and Steve swears he sees them pout, almost like Billy was mimicking a kiss.

 

He looks away. It’s hot. The sun has no cloud cover now and it’s flaming up his cheeks, leaving patches of heat all over his chest. When he dares to look back again, Karen Wheeler is long gone but Billy’s still there, still staring at him too. Steve burns.

  
_I hate the summer in Indiana_ , Steve thinks.


End file.
